Dealing in profit

Anurag Dikshit is a name that is hard to forget. He is the Indian online poker pioneer who pleaded guilty to violations of the US Wire Act last year, paying a fine of a cool $300m.

That sounds a lot until you look at the other side of the ledger. Dikshit raised roughly that sum by selling two-thirds of his remaining shares in PartyGaming, the company he co-founded 12 years ago. He is left with chips worth roughly £95m.

Then there is the £420m he made from selling shares when Party floated in London four years ago at an astronomical valuation (UK fund managers had fooled themselves into believing the US authorities were all bark and no bite on the legality on online gambling). There was also £66m from further share sales plus £34m from Party's only dividend payment.

Add it all up and Dikshit has banked a net £500m. He does not yet have peace of mind since formal sentencing for violation of the Wire Act will take place in December next year. The assumption, however, is that the US authorities have no interest in sending him to jail. At that point, Dikshit, 38, should be free to enjoy the private life his spokesman says he craves. Most of his fortune is apparently destined for his charitable foundation.

"Poker is as elaborate a waste of human intelligence as you could find outside an advertising agency," said Raymond Chandler. Yes, but being one of the first people to write a clever software program for poker has its rewards.